


Babysitting

by SeekingIdlewild



Series: Tumblr Prompts [2]
Category: British Actor RPF, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M, tumblr prompt fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-01
Updated: 2013-04-01
Packaged: 2017-12-07 03:16:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/743558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeekingIdlewild/pseuds/SeekingIdlewild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tom is used to Loki's random visits to his flat, but this time Loki has brought an unexpected guest with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Babysitting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SentientBlueberry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SentientBlueberry/gifts).



> This is a fill for the following Tumblr prompt from sentientblueberry:
> 
> "Could I ask for FrostPudding and children? Either Tom's nieces and nephews or Loki's children... Just some fluffy stuff, with Dad!Tom and Dad(Mom?)!Loki, please? :-) Thank you."
> 
> This prompt gave me a little difficulty at first. I prefer not to involve Tom's relatives in my fics, and my head canon for MCU!Loki is that he does not have any children. So this fic is _loosely_ based on my head canon for the version of Loki in [Portrait of a God](http://archiveofourown.org/works/634029/chapters/1147319).

Tom was not surprised when he arrived home from a  morning run to find Loki sitting on his sofa, reading from his battered copy of _Henry V_.  Of late, Loki had come to treat Tom's flat as a sort of vacation home, and the only consistent thing about the timing and length of his visits was their inconsistency.  Tom was always happy to see him, even when his presence in Tom's flat was not necessarily convenient.  It was all part of being in a relationship with Loki, and Tom readily accepted it.

The baby sitting in the middle of Tom's living room floor, however… that was new.  The baby was wearing a cloth diaper and nothing else, so there were no obvious clues to its gender.  Tom wasn't quite sure how old the baby was.  He was no expert on that subject.  He thought it wasn't quite old enough to be walking yet, but it was close to that age.  About nine months, perhaps?  He wasn't even sure the child was human, for that matter, and he knew even less about the developmental rate of Asgardian children than that of human children.

"There's a baby in my flat, Loki," Tom pointed out, because it was the sort of detail that seemed worthy of comment.

Loki hummed absently and turned the page.  "Your observation skills never fail to fill me with admiration, Thomas," he said.

"Is that my South Bank Sky Arts Award it's sucking on?" Tom inquired politely.

"Yes.  He appears to like it," Loki said.

So the baby was a boy.  Establishing that fact felt like progress to Tom.  And the fact that the baby was easily hefting the not-insubstantial weight of the award seemed to suggest that he was not human.  Which suggested that Loki had not snatched the boy from some poor human mother for reasons best known to himself.  That could only be a good thing.

"Loki," Tom said deferentially, "It's not that I'm not fond of children and all, but would you mind telling me _why_ there's a baby in my flat?"

Loki heaved a longsuffering sigh and set down _Henry V_ on the sofa beside him.  "I am playing the part of doting grandfather today," he said, in the exact same tone with which he might have said, "I am being torn apart by rabid dogs today."

"I didn't realize you were a father, let alone a grandfather," Tom confessed, interested. 

He plopped himself down on the floor in front of the child.  The baby stared at him with huge blue eyes, and then he pulled the glass award from his mouth and held out the drool-slick object toward Tom with a beatific smile on his chubby face.  "No, no," Tom told him politely, "That's quite all right.  You can hold on to it for now."  The baby gurgled pleasantly and went back to sucking on the award.

"I have two sons," Loki said, observing Tom and the baby from his position on the sofa, "Narfi and Vali.  This is Narfi's latest brat.  I forget the child's name."

"Doting grandfather, indeed," Tom commented, amused, but also slightly apprehensive.  "And… his grandmother?"

Loki said nothing for a while, and his gaze turned distant and grim.  Finally he murmured, "She is gone."

There was no telling whether that meant that Loki's past lover was dead, or that she had simply left him.  It was clear from Loki's tone that he would not entertain any more questions on that subject, so Tom resolved to do a little research later.  Something about the names Narfi and Vali tugged lightly at his memory.

Meanwhile, the baby had finally grown bored with the South Bank Sky Arts Award and had abandoned it.  He was now scurrying across the carpet at a rapid crawl, making for the bookcase that held Tom's Blu-ray collection.  That target seemed safe enough, as long as the baby didn't start opening the Blu-ray cases and pulling out the discs.  Fortunately, he seemed more interested in yanking the cases off the shelf one at a time, sometimes pausing to chew experimentally on a corner of a case before tossing it aside.

"How long exactly were you planning on staying this time?" Tom asked.

"A few days," Loki said absently, picking up his book once more.  "Perhaps a week."

"A few… Loki, my flat isn't baby-proof!" Tom protested.

"I suppose you had better keep an eye on him then ," Loki said unsympathetically.  He started reading again, leaving the babysitting duties to Tom.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pretty sure that this is Loki's passive-aggressive way of punishing Tom for stating during his South Bank Sky Arts Award acceptance speech that he is more proud of his work in _The Hollow Crown_ than he is of his performance as Loki. Hence Loki giving the award to the baby and reading _Henry V_ to further drive his point home.
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this ficlet, you can follow me on [Tumblr](http://seekingidlewild.tumblr.com/) for updates about my other writing projects.


End file.
